Run For Your Life
by PanicMoon15
Summary: Rose has been depressed recently, that is until all of the excitement kicks off and an old friend turns up in the parallel world, out of the blue. Literally, out of a blue box. 11/Rose
1. Chapter 1

#12

Run For Your Life

Rose unclipped the lead from her dog's collar and flopped down onto the nearest empty bench, watching as her black lab frolicked in the long grass with the other dogs. He returned to her every so often with a stick or a ball for her to throw, but stayed away for the most part. She knew why. He seemed to be the only one who could tell when she needed time alone; everyone else, her Mum, Pete, Jake, they all kept her close. Ever since John had died, her whole family had had her on constant suicide watch, though it wasn't necessary. Unknown to them and unlike John, she couldn't die- God help her, she'd tried, but she just kept waking up. Some would call it a gift. It wasn't, it was a curse.

She was brought from her thoughts by the creaking of the moss-stained bench under the weight of a new person. Rose sighed and attempted to ignore the other person. She want sociable at the best of times these days, and this certainly was not 'the best of times'. Perhaps if she made no social attempts whatsoever, they would just go away; who was she kidding? This was London. No one spoke to each other anyway.

After a few minutes of silence, Rose's curiosity got the better of her and she looked over at the person. A man; not unusual. A man without a dog…in a dog park; a little unusual. A man in a tweed jacket and a bow tie; very unusual. She must have been staring or either looking at him strangely as he looked at her and smiled politely. Rose looked at the ground quickly, feeling a blush beginning to rise up her neck at being caught.

"Hello" he greeted cheerfully, which Rose added to her mental list of 'Unusual things about this man'.

"Erm…hi" Rose replied lamely.

"Nice day" he commented, looking up at the clear blue sky. Rose followed his gaze and realised for the first time that day, that it actually _was_ a pleasant day. She didn't really pay much attention to the weather these days, but he was right. Despite the slight chill in the air, it was a good day to be outside.

"Yeah, it is a nice day, isn't it?"

"That your dog?" the man asked, nodding over at the lab trotting over to them both.

"Yeah, this is Jack" Rose introduced, and immediately saw the man's face contort into an amused grin.

"Jack?" he asked, still smirking.

"What?" Rose narrowed her eyes at him, petting the dog as it sat at her feet protectively.

He raised his arms in surrender. "I said nothing" he defended.

"But you're smiling" Rose observed.

"Are you saying that I can't smile? I have to look miserable all the time or I look suspicious?" he lowered his arms.

"Well no, obviously. But when a random man in a bow tie comes out of nowhere and sits down next to you in a dog park with no dog, you can't help but be suspicious" Somewhere behind Rose, what she assumed to be a low flying plane, could be heard.

"If you must know" the man began, looking over Rose's head before returning his line of vision to her "I was smiling at your dog's name. I had a friend called Jack" the dog looked up at the mention of its name.

Rose looked down lovingly at her pet. "I had a friend called Jack too. A long time ago and so very far away" she laughed to herself and looked back at the man "he was a bit of a dog himself. I thought it was fitting"

"I'm sure he would be flattered" the man smiled, looking behind Rose again.

"Probably" Rose couldn't help but shake the feeling of familiarity which seemed to come with talking to this man. She liked it. "I'm Rose, by the way. Rose Tyler"

The plane could be heard again, making the dogs bark. Rose didn't look round, though she could see by the look on the people's faces in the park that she really should. The man beamed at her, stood up and dusted himself off, glancing over her head. The sky began to turn dark, and screams could be heard in the distance but the man continued to smile and Rose couldn't help to mirror the expression. She turned to see something which should have made her want to run as far away as she possibly could; Rose felt excitement bubbling up inside her. A spaceship blocked the sun's rays and illuminated the sky with destructive lasers. Rose felt the man come up behind her and lean close to her ear.

"Nice to meet you, Rose" he grabbed her hand "Run for your life!"

And of course, she did.


	2. Chapter 2

#14

Run For Your Life- Chapter 2

"Thank you so much, Doctor" Amy squealed, throwing her arms around him.

The Doctor hugged her back awkwardly with one arm, simultaneously using the other to set coordinates for leaving their current destination. "I'm still utterly confused as to why you would rather visit the city on boring old Earth, where you both lived for years, rather than going to the planet" he squirmed out of her embrace and dusted himself off, moving to the other side of the console.

"It's Barcelona" she said obviously "We've always wanted to go there, haven't we, Rory?"

Rory looked up from his position of the floor where he was attempting to close an overfilled suitcase. "What? Oh yeah. Never could afford it, but since you have a handy spaceship…"

"Dogs, with no noses!" the Doctor stressed, feeling an unpleasant and all too familiar pang within his hearts. "Fine" he pressed on quickly, realising how much he needed this time to himself "Whatever, go and have a couple of weeks in the sun"

"And you'll be here to pick us up in two weeks?" Amy asked for the sixth time.

"Yes! I am going to be here to pick you two up in fourteen days"

"Not two years?" Rory asked, successfully zipping the case closed.

"Not two years" the Doctor assured.

"Okay, then" Amy smiled, and Rory picked up the bulging suitcase. "See you in a fortnight"

The Doctor watched as Amy and Rory left the TARDIS, and despite knowing he wanted and needed this time just as much, if not more than them, he still felt a twinge of loneliness. "They're only going for a holiday, not for good" he reminded himself aloud.

Turning back to the console, the Doctor took the TARDIS to his pre-entered coordinates in the vortex. In theory, he could have just taken the TARDIS two weeks ahead to pick up his friends, but really he needed time away from them. Not just them, but everyone, well, nearly everyone. There was always one certain pink and yellow human for whom the Doctor would always have time for…even if it was impossible.

Amy and Rory weren't the only ones he had ever 'suggested' take some time away from the TARDIS. He had taken Donna home to visit her family, and on one occasion had even dropped Martha off at a spa resort against her will, just so he could go and float in the vortex on his own for a week. Rose however, well, he had never wanted time away from her. Even when she asked him to go and visit her Mum, giving him them puppy-dog eyes, he'd tagged along, albeit a bit reluctantly. But he would rather risk a Jackie Tyler slap any day than spend time away from Rose. Not that he even had a choice now.

The Doctor found himself roaming the TARDIS's corridors, Rose now firmly at the front of his mind. He could have a hundred thoughts running through his head at once, and right now, every thought was on Rose Marion Tyler. This therefore led, predictably, to the Doctor ending up standing outside the familiar white wooden door; glossy white with a little pink flower drawn on in permanent marker at the top. His hand reached out and rested on the silver handle, thumb rubbing the cool metal. Taking a deep breath, the Doctor pushed down the handle and opened the door.

It was still the same, just as it was the last time he had ended up here, every time he ended up here. The Doctor stepped inside and carefully closed the door behind him, taking a few moments before turning around. Keeping his eyes closed, he breathed in the flowery scent of Rose's perfume which the TARDIS had managed so perfectly to preserve. Standing there, in her room, it was almost like she had never left. The Doctor half expected to hear her laugh, see her smile with her tongue sticking out between her teeth…but then, he always wanted to see that.

Rose wasn't there when he opened his eyes. The Doctor walked over to the dressing table, struggling to hold back the tears as he saw everything which was just so purely and positively 'Rose'. The edge of the mirror was framed with photographs: Rose with her Mum, Rose with Mickey, Rose with his ninth incarnation and Jack, Rose and his tenth self eating chips, and him in his tenth body kissing Rose. He wondered how she would feel about this body. Floppy hair, not quite as tall, still skinny and a bit more of a baby face. Not that there was any point in even thinking about it, she would never see this new body.

The bed was what he was drawn to next. Her bed. Their bed. Not made, just like it was before she left. Pink duvet covers with matching pillow cases, though one of them was discarded on the floor, and had been replaced with a navy blue one. That was his. He'd insisted after three weeks of sleeping next to her, that his pillow was comfier than her's, and one night and brought it to her room to sleep on. It never did make it back. Never would now, it had been too long. It belonged here now.

He lay on Rose's side of the bed and pulled the duvet over his head as it lent him a false sense of security. This was when he allowed himself to lose it. And he did. The Doctor cried for Rose, for being left on that parallel Earth all on her own, and then again with another version of himself. The Doctor cried for himself, for being so alone even when he had friends by his side. And the Doctor cried for everyone and everything else that needed to be cried for, until he eventually fell asleep in Rose Tyler's bed.

The TARDIS landed with a heavy 'thud', waking the Doctor. He sat up straight, blinking rapidly until the pink room came into focus and he began remembering the events of the night before.

"I didn't ask you to go anywhere" he grumbled to the TARDIS who hummed in response. The Doctor rubbed his face and ran a hand through his matted hair; it must have been a restless night. The TARDIS hummed louder, forcing the Doctor out of his musings. "Okay, okay" he said irritably "I'm getting up" Dragging himself out of the bed and towards the door, he mumbled "See, getting up"

He knew the TARDIS wanted him to go straight to the console room, bounding in and grinning excitably at the prospect of a new world just outside the blue doors, but today it wasn't going to be like that. She had seen him too often like this to know it wasn't going to go her way. The Doctor wandered in the opposite direction of the console room, ending up in his own bedroom and eventually finding himself staring at his reflection in the ensuite mirror.

Usually the Doctor was rather proud of his appearance. He had been lucky in this regeneration that he was just as, if not more, good looking than his tenth, and everything was anatomically correct (no extra appendages or blue skin), but he had to admit, today he looked like crap. His dark hair was greasy and slightly matted at the back, his face was still pink and blotchy from the tears and dark circles made his normally bright eyes look shallow and depressed. Not to mention the crumpled clothes he was still wearing. Before facing up to anything the TARDIS had in store for him, he needed a shower and some clean clothes.

After showering and getting redressed (his clothes appearing washed and ironed on his bed courtesy of the impatient TARDIS), the Doctor eventually found himself entering the console room.

"Right, where are we?" he asked, feeling much chirpier after his shower, sauntering over to the console. "Or rather, _why _did you randomly bring us here?" He waited for a moment, looking at the small screen and adjusting his red bow tie slightly, but didn't receive any indication why, the TARDIS remaining silent- well as silent as the TARDIS could be while still functioning.

The front doors opened slightly, creaking and catching the Doctor's attention. "Okay" he said to the TARDIS "I'm going. But don't you sneak off anywhere while I'm gone" The Doctor, being uncharacteristically cautious, stepped out of the TARDIS, closing the blue doors behind him. He looked around.

Grass; green grass. Trees; brown and green trees dotted around the turf. People; people with dogs; people with dogs with noses! So not Barcelona, then. And sky; blue sky; blue sky with yellow sun, just one. Earth, he was on earth. Why on Earth (he silently congratulated himself on his own pun) would she bring him back here? What good was that? Stupid ship, interrupting his wallowing in self-pity for nothing other than to simply be annoying-

The Doctor's train of thought abruptly came to a halt as lots of things seemed to happen at once. He could hear something. The people in the park with him seemed to have no awareness of the sound, but he could hear it, Timelord biology and all. It was getting closer, but it still must have been relatively far away because even the dogs were unaffected by the sound. God, it was annoying. A really high pitched buzzing, but not a constant, it was like listening to an incredibly irritating version of Morse code (if that wasn't irritating enough). Urg, it was awful, like having an insect constantly next your ear, knowing you had to get away before it stings you but knowing you can't move or it will result in the same fate.

And that's when a shadow fell over the spot he was standing in, making the Doctor look up at the expanse of silver above him. A zeppelin. On Earth. Now that _was_ interesting. It passed overhead, few turning to look at it, the locals used to the airships passing by. Someone however, did look up, if only for half a second, she probably didn't even realise herself that she had, but the Doctor noticed. The woman, the blonde woman in black jeans and a grey hooded top, was sat on a bench about one hundred feet or so away from him in what looked like deep contemplation until a black dog came over to her. She gave it a pat and threw a ball, watching as it chased after the toy.

The Doctor's breath caught in his throat as he found himself walking towards her. As he found himself walking towards Rose Tyler.


	3. Chapter 3

#15

Run For Your Life- Chapter 3

Rose was running. Running as fast as her legs could take her, if not faster as this man dragged her through the grassy verges of the park, towards a shadowy clump of trees. She wasn't really aware of a lot of things; Jack the dog was running alongside them without question, people were screaming and panicking around them and there was a giant spaceship in the sky, but apart from those few factors everything else was a blur.

They sprinted in the opposite direction of everyone else in the park; most people running towards the car park and the exit, desperate to get as far away from the destruction the ship was causing to the city around them; Rose and the man were going further into the wooded area. Rose was focused on simply putting one foot in front of the other and keeping her breathing regulated as her throat and legs started to burn. It was a horrible, and yet, somewhat familiar sensation which made the corners of her mouth twitch.

Her arm was nearly pulled out of the socket as the mental man lunged in the opposite direction to avoid a stray laser. The red light shot past Rose's ear, missing her by inches, and hitting a tree behind them. The tree burst into flames and Jack barked. She could feel the heat of the laser on her ear; though it hadn't hit her, her ear would probably blister.

"You okay?" the man asked breathlessly, looking at her with green eyes drowning in concern.

Rose nodded, unable to do anything else as her lungs refused to cooperate. The man smiled weakly, a small frown just visible to her before he took off again towards the far end of the park.

Gasping for more air, Rose thought she was about pass out. Over the years of being with the Doctor, then John and then working for Torchwood, Rose had done her fair share of spontaneous running and thought she was rather fit, but this excursion was beginning to prove her wrong. Not only could she hardly breathe and thought her legs were about to burst into flame at any second, but a horrible buzzing noise was getting louder and louder the more she ran. At first she though it was lack of oxygen causing her body to do weird things, however, a particularly loud buzzing vibrating right through her making her teeth hurt and causing Jack to whine loudly, convinced her this was _not_ in her head.

The man stopped so suddenly that Rose almost fell over as she dug her heels into the ground, mentally congratulating herself on deciding to wear her old faithful pair of trainers; perfect for running. She coughed slightly, catching her breath, grateful for the opportunity to slightly compose herself, and noticed Jack was no longer at her side. Quickly looking around, she saw the dog near the clump of trees they had been heading towards. Rose whistled and he obediently trotted over, making nervous glances at the now near-black sky. The man was looking at the sky too, well, everyone was, there was a spaceship in it.

"We have to go" the man stated, never taking his eyes off the sky.

Rose said nothing, her lungs _still_ not wanted to allow unnecessary oxygen out. She was also quickly becoming more aware of the burning sensation on her left ear. The man looked down at her fondly, still holding her sweaty hand. He smiled, actually it was more of a smirk, and his eyes glittered cheekily.

"Oh Rose Tyler, don't tell me you're out of breath" he teased. Rose looked at him with utter confusion. "I remember when you ran three miles in bare feet across a desert with four suns in Cross-Nebula-Four and didn't even bat an eyelash" he winked.

Rose gasped but was pulled into the sheltered woods before she could do anything more. "Y-you-you?" she coughed out as they weaved between trees, her eyes glued to the tweed-clad man.

He stopped them again abruptly and turned to her with those green eyes. Those green eyes which held so much, which had seen so much in their lifetime. Those green eyes that she could almost…almost, imagine were once…brown. "Yes" he spoke quietly and let go of her hand, answering a question which had never asked. He stared into her glazed chocolate orbs and put the hand which had held her's on the small of her back, carefully pushing Rose forward.

She couldn't find the cognition to do anything other than to walk where he was pushing her. Rose could still hear the horrendous buzzing which was getting louder and more painful by the second, could still hear the barks and whines of her dog, could still hear distant screams of innocent civilians, but ignored it all. She simply stared at him, terrified he was going to disappear.

"Look" he could have whispered it or screamed the word at her and Rose wouldn't have known the difference. Reading the request from the movement of his lips, Rose pealed her eyes away from him and saw the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

When Rose was fifteen she was given an essay to write for English: 'The Most Beautiful Thing I Have Ever Seen'. The class had been briefed and told that they had to write four pages on the topic and say _why_ they had chosen that particular thing. At the time, a week had seemed plenty of time to do the homework, but three days before she was due to hand it in, Rose realised she couldn't think of anything. She had called Shareen and asked for advice, but given the girl was not in her class and apparently didn't particularly care, she had simply said "Dunno, call Kelsi". Rose had called Kelsi, who _was_ in her English lesson, and had listened as the girl read out all four pages of her essay, detailing how beautiful each member of the band '5ive' was on her poster which was taped creepily to her bedroom ceiling. Rose had never really liked 5ive all that much.

In the end, Rose had decided to make something up. The only time Rose had ever been abroad before that point was when she had gone on a school trip to France when she was thirteen. That hadn't exactly gone to plan, and after sneaking off with Shareen, the two had been sent home early. Though that was the only first-hand experience Rose had had outside of England, she had read plenty of books and seen enough films to be able to describe 'white beaches' and 'turquoise seas which danced around her feet when the tide came in'. Using as many metaphors and as much alliteration as she could, Rose had come out with a high B and a comment scrawled on the bottom in red saying "Perhaps you would have received an A, Miss Tyler if what you had written was true" Rose felt slightly humiliated at that and quickly stuffed the paper back into her bag before any of her friends could see it. Kelsi got an E and Rose couldn't help but smile.

Since then, Rose had seen many things which she could have written about in that essay. Many things which would have been true, though she was sure her teacher wouldn't have believed her and that red biro would come out again to push her self-confidence back into the gutter. Rose could have written about white beaches and turquoise seas, or glittering galaxies in the shape of music notes in colours which she couldn't describe in words, or even grass greener than any green on planet earth which smelled of apples; she could have written about any of that, but she wouldn't have. Rose would have written about the sight before her, the sight which was slightly distorted by the tears which filled her eyes and the shadows of the trees and darkness caused by the spaceship overhead, the sight of a blue box and the man in tweed who had moved in front of her to open it. Rose would have written about the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Rose would have written about the TARDIS and the Doctor.

**A/N: Sorry the gaps between posting these chapters are so long, but I'm doing my A2 exams at the minute so it's a bit hectic. My exams finish in June though so after then I should have a lot more time to write and post. Thank you for reading Reviews are very much appreciated. **


	4. Chapter 4

As much as the Doctor was enjoying watching the look of amazement on Rose Tyler's face as she gazed upon his beloved blue ship, whoever was invading the Earth (or rather parallel Earth) was not appreciating the importance of this moment and rudely continued to shoot deadly lasers in their direction. A particularly lethal purple one cremated a large oak tree about eight feet ahead of the Doctor's current position. Rose did not react. He decided that it was time for them to leave.

"Right, Rose Tyler. Gawking time over" he said, pushing her inside and slamming the doors milliseconds before an orange beam of light would have collided with her head. "Oh" the Doctor whined, rubbing the inside doors of the TARDIS "I bet that's left a mark, and she does hate being burned" Refusing to look again at Rose Tyler, just in case she disappeared, the Doctor ran past her and began frantically hitting buttons, twiddling knobs and shouting at inanimate objects, until the rhythmic humming from the TARDIS told his they were safe in the vortex.

His back to the TARDIS doors, the Doctor looked down at the console, pretending to be doing something very important which meant he most defiantly could not turn around, no matter how much he wanted to see her beautiful face framed by her blonde hair, every one of which he had memorised individually. He was terrified that if her _were_ to turn around, to face his pink and yellow human, she wouldn't be here. He could have dreamed it all. The Doctor's eyes stung at the thought, but it wouldn't be the first time his imagination had betrayed him. Dreams were a dangerous thing.

In the past, after his time alone, most of which would be spent in Rose Tyler's room in the TARDIS, the Doctor would often see her. See her in his dreams. Sometimes they were nice dreams, where they were together again, or where she had never left, both types would result in him waking to the disappointment of her being absent, but the satisfaction of having spent a precious few more minutes with her, even if it wasn't real. The other type of dreams were not so kind; nightmares. The Doctor would watch Rose Tyler as she was sucked into the void, Pete never saving her; he would see her with his other self, laughing at the 'real' him as he fell into oblivion and was forgotten by everyone who had ever known him; the Doctor would wake screaming after watching Bad Wolf take over Rose's mind and burn her inside-out, without him to save her. Occasionally, when he was especially missing her, he would be certain he had heard her laughing, smelled her perfume, seen her disappearing around one of the many corners in the TARDIS. Once, he had even sworn he had seen her reading in the library; the leather on her favourite couch was cold and there wasn't a pile of alien books on the coffee table. She wasn't there. She was never there. No matter how real it felt at the time.

"Doctor?" her voice was so quiet, so unsure. Then again, why wouldn't she be unsure? He was a changed man; still 'The Doctor' but no longer _her _Doctor. "Doctor?" she spoke louder when he failed to answer.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Rose" he spoke slowly, trying to justify his warped logic to himself as well as the human he hadn't seen in years, stood behind him. "But I'm not going to turn around"

"I'm sorry?"

"It's just, I'm not entirely certain that I haven't gone mad, and your presence isn't simply a figment of my incredibly brilliant imagination" he could hear her coming closer, her soft steps making barely audible noises on the TARDIS' glass floor. The Doctor's advanced senses also allowed him to feel the air pressure between them change; it didn't mean it was real though. Dreams could be vivid.

"It is you though, yeah?" Rose stood right behind him.

"Well, yes." He struggled to control his breathing "I am me. The Doctor" sighing and closing his eyes, he continued "The very same…sort of"

"Sort of?" the hairs on the back of the Doctor's neck pricked up as Rose's warm breath came into contact with him when she spoke.

"Hmm" if Rose _was_ a figment of his imagination, then his capability to create fictional situations had certainly improved since his last experience with vivid dreams. "Same mind, different face"

"Good different" Rose moved one of her arms around the Doctor, placing her hand atop his on the console. He gasped, keeping his eyes closed and focusing on the feel of her warm fingers encasing his palm. "Or bad different?"

With a shaky breath, the Doctor opened his eyes. There in front of him, resting on the TARDIS' console was his hand, his hand being held by the one person whose hand he wanted to never let go of. "Just different" he repeated the words Rose had said to him all those years ago on Christmas day.

"But still not ginger"

The Doctor, still holding Rose's hand, turned to face her. She was crying, but then again, so was he, and neither of them had noticed. His free hand came up to cup her damp cheek, thumb rubbing away the streams of tears from one eye. "No" he smiled, blinking away his own tears to clear the blurry vision they were causing; he needed to see his pink and yellow human. "Still not ginger"

Her eyes flickered from his face to his neck and back again. Wide grin still in place, she raised her eyebrows. "You wear a bow tie now?"

The Doctor laughed wildly and pulled Rose into a rib-disintegrating hug, lifting her feet off the ground and spinning her around. He placed her back onto the floor after a few circles without revoking his hug. "Yeah. Bow ties are cool"


End file.
